Review: Gomer Pyle – Before I Die I

When Gomer Pyle released Idiot Savants back in 2008, the Dutch rockers managed to mix Stoner Rock and Grunge with the Euro sounding Psych and create an album that is still used as a reference point because it is that good. For anyone new to this style of music, the track Drawback, from the album Idiot Savants, has to be on that mixtape

Move on to 2020 and they’re back with Before I Die I. A collection of nine songs which I quote are “A life’s musical snapshot by Gomer Pyle. This is no way meant to be more than “just” a collection of musical stories, evolved out of a combined span of life experiences of four friends who journey together on a vessel called “music”. Not a concept. But yes indeed LIFE, love, pain, poetry, friendship and deception”. Over the next 63 minutes you can really hear and feel what they have gone through and you won’t be disappointed

Remember The Days feels laid back, sun drenched and out there in a place that the band know all too well. Like driving the highway into the unknown, everything starts slowly and moves at a pace that has looking towards the horizon as the vocals drift in and out with that trippy feeling I would associate with the band. The bass line and drums take you there until everything kicks in and opens up those vocal melodies over warm fuzzy guitars. I’m only five minutes into the record and the love of what Gomer Pyle does has already comes flooding back. Any band that starts a record with a ten minute plus epic is alright by me, and this shines through as the song strums along and takes you on a journey that concludes with some kick ass guitar work that walks off into the sunshine.

The Buzzer has a more straightforward grunge rock feel to it that plays out like a story with the vocals and vocal harmonies playing a really strong part. As a song it stomp’s along a constant upbeat rate and is uniquely Gomer Pyle.

At nearly twelve minutes long, Slide Kings is an absolute magical journey. Starting slowly, quiet and space like, the warm psychedelic trip begins to take shape as Mark Brouwer’s vocals mesmerizingly pick you up as the journey continues. The guitar and bass sound rich and fuzzy with a slight edge that translates so well on record. With a real feeling of emotion in the lyrics about their loss and how they are sang and harmonized, you the listener, are taken up towards the clouds and beyond for several more minutes. As Slide Kings has its end in sight, the driving rhythm really moves and you cannot help but nod your head to riffs that define what I would call stoner rock. Played live, this will surely be one of those “hairs stand up on the back of your neck” moments.

The rock kicks in with Scum Trade and its more abrasive feel, switching between harsher vocals and rock melodies, making me think of Mastodon trading places with something that could be tagged as radio rock?

Nicky McGee has the swirl of two driving guitar lines that push against each other before joining forces and rockin’ out. As the chorus about Nicky McGee kicks in and tells you what they did, there’s a real sense of something like what a 90’s Melvins did in the world of Grunge, and the vocals are huge.

You can really feel the heart felt emotion in We Are One. The vocals sit strong as a real centerpiece over stripped back guitars and a lot more keyboard work with the repetition of the line We Are One taking you to some darker and slower lines that move to almost a chant like state.

Laeviculus floats along like a journey above the clouds and on towards the sunset. Warm, light and deeply emotive, before rocking out at the end with a huge solo.

Your Demon rocks like a bunch of musicians that grew up on DC hardcore that turned into a love of post hardcore. It jangles, it rocks, it harmonises, all with an emotion that buries deep into your musical mind.

Cyclus closes the record magically. The sadness, loss and grief of losing their colleague Bidi Van Drongelen has played a part in the writing of the album, but Cyclus is the track that closes the chapter in their lives in a way they must be so proud of. The piano starts the song and compliments the building up of the next 5 minutes, from the solitary voice to the uplifting positive feel of every single instrument and voice joining in harmony to its crescendo. 

Before I die I stands up against anything Gomer Pyle have written in the past. If they had reformed in a blaze of glory, I would have to quote the line “you would think the band have never left”. The more I listen the more I want to wax lyrical about the record and how good each track is and how they all interlink into a musical journey. Let’s hope they find their way to the shores of the UK to play live, sooner rather than later. Really well packaged by The Lab Records and Threechord Records.

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Review: Hetouht – Kinetic EP

Hetouht have been around for some time now and over the last 12 months have dropped a couple of singles (Agavaceae and Ocean Sunset Man), longer EP’s (29.5 and A.Hoag) and various improvised jams and live performances on YouTube, that keep the listener on their toes as you never quite know what instrumental psych mind waves they are going to be jamming out next.

Like the last few releases, their 2 track Kinetic release just appeared the other morning and after only a couple of listens, I’m already hooked on what is probably their finest release yet.

Moving Grass strums in with a raw almost jangling guitar over some outer space electronic sounds that have me thinking of Kings of Frog Island. As it builds the guitar becomes thicker and fuzzier before walking off into the improvised minds of the band members. Throughout, it dives back and forth before the guitar work takes over and just as you think everything is about to take off, the sound of water brings you back to Earth. I think this when jammed live could last a lot longer.

Schoffer feels like more of a space rock epic with instruments bent to the far reaches of what they were built to do. The track builds like a journey off into the night sky heading towards the outer atmosphere, the percussion moving at an ever building pace with guitars soaring then fuzzing then taking you beyond the beyond. 

You forget that all of this is made by only 2 members who have a magical connection between them and improvise live what many a band would love to be able to do.

I really urge you to dig through their YouTube channel to discover a wide range of improvisations and jams that they have recorded in the studio as well as live. If you love instrumental stoner, desert, space and psych then this is for you. I can’t get enough of this at the moment and can see Hetouht spreading their kinetic waves much further in the near future.

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Review: Mythic Sunship – Changing Shapes

Mythic Sunship released Another Shape of Psychedelic Music in 2018, this being their fourth album in as many year and with their ability to shape psych, time and musical space, they have become a leading light in European psych rock and this time they bring the listener in to their live experience in Changing Shapes. As the album description notes, Mythic Sunship played three shows at Roadburn 2019 and Changing Shaped documents the most ferocious and courageous of the three.

I know that many bands have put on legendary performances at Roadburn over the years, but to have it documented on an official release elevates the classic performances in to something even more special.

Awakening builds slowly and as it drifts from side to side, each instrument beginning to evolve. The addition of saxophone takes the evolution to another level with its free form jazz like explosion. Once the craziness of the build-up levels off, all roads turn towards the same direction and the space psych journey takes voyage in to the night sky. Lighter interludes on the journey give way to more sax, which tells its own tale of said voyage. The final two minutes really take the listener to the next level with some rock out guitar work, an explosion of drums any cymbals and the ever present bass line holding everything together. It’s a shame the track has to finish on eleven minutes.

A longer version of Elevation follows on with its mind warping space rock journey. The bass is there and hooks you with its constant near hypnotic pull. The drums keep time but take several side trips into explosive territory before returning to let the guitars soar towards the sun and the sax take center stage, taking the listener never to the same place twice. The last four minutes get faster and faster and the bassline implants itself deep in your mind as the journey into the cosmos concludes at quite a rate. If you are holding the record you will notice Elevation is not on it, but the accompanying digital download has it ready for you.

Way Ahead feels a lot more organic, like a jam version of earlier songs. With the majority of the track being driven by the guitars and percussion, the sax implants itself deeper in to the mix when it makes an appearance. From the minute go, each band member lets go of themselves and rocks out with this supersonic cosmic journey into hyperspace.

Olympia is another new jam that takes you above the clouds into eleven minutes of a sonic psychedelic build up. There’s a lot of guitar riffs that role over each other and form big grooves that are plugged by the free flowing sax. It truly turns in to the stand out moment on the record.

Concluding the release, Ophidian Rising is back to earlier material that kicks in like a heavy psych freak out from the start, no build up or atmospheric opening, just killer heavy psych. Like a huge comet crossing the night sky and breaking through the Earth’s atmosphere, the ball of ever evolving fire keeps spinning and speeding up before taking everything along as it hurtles down to make an untimely connection.

With their impressive output of music, I doubt we will have to wait for more new music, but with the new jam’s here, you are again elevated into another Mythic Sunship trance like state. I have yet to experience them live, but this records scratches the itch until they hopefully come to the UK one day.

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Review: Big Scenic Nowhere – Vision Beyond Horizon

The fruition of Bob Balch and Gary Arce’s Big Scenic Nowhere project was 2019’s Dying on the Mountain EP, three songs showcasing their mix of prog rock and desert psychedelia. With their other bands still in full rotation I had no expectation for the band to regroup at any time soon, so the news of their return to the studio and the penning of an album deal with Heavy Psych Sounds showed that they meant business and the collaboration of the various players had already come together to work on something rather special.

With this recording the line-up consists of Gary Arce (Yawning Man), Bob Balch (Fu Manchu), Tony Reed (Mos Generator), Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man), Per Wilberg (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Opeth), Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator, ex-Kyuss, QOTSA), Bill Stinson (Yawning Man) Lisa Alley and Ian Graham (The Well), and Alain Johannes (Them Crooked Vultures, Chris Cornell, Eleven).

I had read a couple of reviews of the record before its release and they talked about this super group had produced a desert rock or stoner rock classic, but after a few listens I have to question if they have really listened to it properly because the core of the band take the listener in several different directions and Vision Beyond Horizon offer so much more than expected. To say it’s just stoner rock or Fu Manchu or Yawning Man can be heard in all the writing does this collaboration a dis-service. As much as I like both the bands, this is a collaboration and release that cannot be pigeon holed or compared to anything else. The first time you listen to the record, you will understand.

The Glim starts with a big stomping riff that hooks you straight in before one of several quick guitar solos. The song as a whole has a mid-pace loud David Bowie channelling a psychedelic space rock Soundgarden kind of vibe, if that makes sense? It sounds big and bold with layer after layer of guitars that roll over you like the oceans tide and the waves of dark psychedelia already have you hooked. 

If your still somewhere between the layers of The Glim then The Paranoid grabs you by the throat for the next ninety seconds with something that took me by surprise. I remember a few years ago talking to Gary about his love of 80’s punk rock and this is definitely a homage to the likes of The Exploited, UK Subs and GBH. Fast, manic and in your face.

Then I Was Gone has a really fuzzy guitar tone to it with the bigger riffs sounding like they’ve been turned up to eleven. Between the surges of guitar, the over-layered dual male/female vocals add a more complex melody to the haunting wizardry that Master of Reality continuously perfected, mixed with the darker vibe that played heavy on many of the tracks from QOTSA’s Lullabies to Paralyse. I really like how the appearance of a few keyboard lines hang nicely off the vocals and fill a gap that you don’t even realise is there.

Mirror Image starts ever so slightly up in the clouds before the big mantra chanting vocal lines implant themselves deep in your mind. Half way through a huge slow monolithic like riff starts with one guitar, then the second guitar adds to it and that’s it, this is the band that I keep subliminally hearing but can’t quite put my finger on, its Cathedral. The riff is pure Cathedral at their finest. The vocals kick straight in after that before the epic sounding guitar solo and it all makes sense now. In no way is this replicating something Cathedral have written, it just has that vibe and gives me that feeling of doomy rock n roll with that haunting like Lee Dorrian voice. 

Hidden Wall floats you to a laid back place that I picture as those moments before the dawn sun appears from the night sky. It’s trippy, it’s psychedelic and it takes you on an adventure across the sprawling landscapes that are seeing the first glimmers of the light. If you wanted a reference point away from any of the members’ bands then the band the King Buffalo have blossomed into is definitely it. The song grows and evolves and has sown the seeds in to what could be an epic 15-20 minute opus, unfortunately it ends on seven minutes.   

Shadows from the Altar slides back into the doom n roll with the deep layered drifting vocals that sit between two riffs which the song is built around. The first being something of a rolling wave and the other being big rock riff that deserves a fist pump and “oi” chant after it. 

En Las Sombras is again going into the territory of King Buffalo but this is the song that takes all the drifting magical waves of the desert mystery courtesy of the Yawning Man connection. The trippy verses roll in and out against the deep meandering baseline which creates a magical journey, taking you “in the shadows”. To top this off, there’s a combination of two kick ass guitar solos.

Tragic Motion Lines is a mix of psychedelic stoner rock and some riffs and melodies that come from the darker side of an Alice in Chains record.

As the album draws to a close with The War Years, the channeling of their inner Pink Floyd concludes what is a quite magical collaboration. The strumming of acoustic guitars, the tapping of keys, the light yet powerful drums and a variety of keyboards and synthesizer work that builds a small passage into the inner mind. You can almost picture the setting on a small boat on a small stream, drifting slowly towards the horizon.

Vision Beyond Horizon is full of musical surprises and will hold its own for many years to come. With the incoming success of the record and a debut live performance planned for Stoned & Dusted, I really hope 2020 see’s Big Scenic Nowhere bring their live performance over the pond in some way or another. I can also honestly say that each of the nine songs has something for the listener, meaning that there is no filler on this record, it’s that good. Shout out for the quality album artwork as well.

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Review: Zone Six – Kozmik Koon

Zone Six have appeared, disappeared and reappeared several times over the last two decades with some classic live shows thrown in the mix producing several recorded moments of psychedelic magic. After last year’s split record with Arc of Ascent I didn’t imagine that a full record would be following so soon after, but here it is.

I will mention the title of the record and how the meaning of the title’s second word has been lost in translation. Here in England, the word spelt differently is a derogatory term that I absolutely hate but hand on heart, these dudes/hippies/cosmonauts only spread love around the world. The title Kozmik Koon was inspired by friend of the band Kozmik Ken from England, founder of Kozfest, and that they live in an area full of racoons.

The first two times I listened to the album where in totally different settings. The first time being played very loudly on the way from a gig, driving in the raining through the very small hours and you can really feel the atmosphere of what Zone Six deliver and the emotive power of their space rock journey. The second time I was sat in the dark with headphones on and this is when you experience the depth and feeling of the recording as the more psychedelic and ambient parts really take you on a trip to a place beyond space and time.

Maschinenseele starts off with an ambient feeling of loneliness, almost something quite dark that could sit on the soundtrack to one of the Alien films with the repetitive sounds of deep space and the space between those sounds, which in turn ties in well with the black and grey mechanical artwork to the record. As the sound starts to evolve, a light drumbeat and acoustic guitar starts to strum a more upturned and positive sound of movement as though your journey has begun. A journey of repetition that is taking you way out in to the outer realms of the solar system. The electric guitars create walls of sound that you can feel approaching before they make impact again and again as Maschinenseele turns into an epic space rock jam. The mellotron adds to the adventure and you can feel the distant voice of Lulu hauntingly appear on a few occasions deep in the mix. Definitely a jam that could last for many hours when played live.

Kozmik Koon brings you straight back to planet earth with an upbeat feeling of a rocking out Hawkwind live experience coming from a tent in a field in the English countryside. You can see and feel it with bassline that drives the whole song. Several hippies on stage all tuned in to the rhythm and pushing their instruments to levels beyond what they should and lots of hippies losing their minds whilst trippin’ out. Later on in the song everything quietens down and the mix of percussion, keyboard and the more psychedelic guitar brings everything to a mellow conclusion. With the fact that the song is dedicated to Kozmik Ken and his Kozfest, they really have captured the live festival vibe and think they have achieved the outcome they set out to find.

You need to lie back, close your eyes and open your mind to experience Raum. For three minutes and twenty eight seconds a guitar rides upon a wave and does exactly what it wants to do. Mix it with synths and mellotron and that classic 50’s alien invasion noise and you have something between psych and ambience.

Still follows on as a second short track and creates the feeling of 1960’s England that Pink Floyd were oh so good at. Very slight sounds of psychedelia that could come from the bottom of the garden compliment the simple and effective keyboard work that has you meandering along the smallest of streams. The guitars do a little bit, the mellotron does a little bit, the bass does a little bit and all the little bits create something that feels small delicate and very precious.

Song for Richie is the longest track on the album at nearly fourteen minutes and is dedicated to their friend Richard Van Ess who had sadly passed away. The whole shape of the track builds quite quickly over a sample of Timothy Leary’s “Turn on, tune in, drop out” words, and you can feel everything magnetically pull towards the light. There is definitely a lot of emotion in the song which can be felt in how the band have written it. For some reason I keep getting a sense of The Doors in the first few minutes with the way everything meanders. All instruments feel as though they are working overtime again as the song feels big and deep and full of raw power that is waiting to really let go and take off towards the stars, which of course it does. The tempo builds and builds before everyone freaks out for a few minutes in a burst of raw emotion as you take to the sky and spend the remaining time drifting from star to star to moon and beyond. A song full of deep emotions that I hope was a fitting tribute.

If you haven’t already become a follower of what Zone Six do, this is another trip in to the minds of three very creative individuals who will have you hooked on their unique mix of psychedelic and ambient space rock.

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Monster Magnet: "Powertrip" Celebration - Leeds Stylus 23.01.2020

The second date to the full European tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of Powertrip. I remember the original tour for Powertrip and this was just as good.....

Tractor

3rd Eye Landslide

The Right Stuff

Look to your Orb for Warning & Negasonoc Teenage Warhead

Review: Electric Moon – Cellar Overdose Live LP

Cellar Overdose is one of several CD-R’s release by the band that are like gold dust now for collectors. Released back in 2012 as CD-R on Sulatron Records and then an extended double vinyl version on the same label, it is now released again on a lovely white slab of wax on Komet Lulu’s (Electric Moon bassist) new label Worst Bassist Records.

Having already listened to versions of the show many times, it does feel a little strange reviewing this as a re-release, so I am basically going to wax lyrical about how good it is.

If you want a record that will literally blow your mind with its dark brooding outer space psych rock, this is it. Look no further. Set the controls towards the outer limits of your mind.

The Soul Feeder drifts through time and space slowly as the track evolves again and again. The bassline slowly creeps along with the guitar quietly soaring in and out, hooked with some wah-wah before a raw, almost magnetic sounding riff begins to take shape. Your journey through space continues at a head-nodding, rhythmic chanting pace as your sense of cosmic being turns darker and heavier. At around the eleven minute mark, the bass line that has now well and truly warped your mind, makes a slight shift and totally blows your mind. Lightening off for a few more minutes you can see yourself being drawn towards something else in the sky before you come hurtling back into the atmosphere. No matter how many times you listen to this song, the trip never follows the same path twice. 

The Idle Glance starts lighter as a more spacious track, feeling as though both feet are still on planet Earth even though you are still moving at a fast pace. The drums and cymbals crash whilst guitar riff soar above it and the bass takes off and everything is launched into the cosmos and beyond. At around twelve minutes you feel as though you have reached your planetary destination, and circumnavigate its atmosphere to realise what has brought you there. After that you will need to draw your own conclusion to where the journey ends.

On the CD and digital version only you get the bonus track Lost and Found Souls which is another sonic trip through the heights of German space rock and its trance inducing finest.

This is the first release on Worst Bassist Records and you have to check out the next few releases and re-issues as they all look rather special.

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